Architects of Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg, Russia - Encircle Photos

7 Architects of Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg, Russia

While admiring an edifice as magnificent as Catherine Palace and inspecting the golden details inside, you wonder about the gifted minds who designed it. Several architects were part of its evolution from 1710 until 1756. While Catherine was still second consort of Peter the Great, she hired German-born Johann Friedrich Braunstein to build a modest, two floor summer residence. Soon after Catherine’s daughter Elizabeth Petrovna became empress in 1741, she commissioned three successive architects to greatly expand the palace. Then she had a dream of rivaling the Palace of Versailles near Paris. The Chief Architect of the Imperial Court, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, was given the task in 1752. Within four years, he tore down the old Tsarskoe Selo residence and rebuilt Catherine Palace into a showcase of opulence. At the same time, he was managing the creation of Peterhof Palace. From 1721 until shortly after Catherine the Great became empress in 1762, Rastrelli created a dozen Russian palaces – including the Winter Palace – plus the landmark Smolny Convent in Saint Petersburg.

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Architects of Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg, Russia

Garden St, 7, Pushkin, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 196601

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